Dad's warning after predator texts his 7-year-old daughter

A horrified dad released screenshots of messages his seven-year-old daughter received from a predator online, in the hope of warning other parents of the dangers on the internet.

US father Brad Summer took to Facebook earlier this year to post images of the scary text exchange between his daughter and a person posing as a nine-year-old on an app called musical.ly.

The app is mainly used by young kids for sharing short videos amongst each other, and is something to look out for these school holidays.

A dad has released screenshots of messages she received from a predator online. Photo: Facebook
A dad has released screenshots of messages she received from a predator online. Photo: Facebook
The seven-year-old was using the popular app musically when she received the messages. Photo: Facebook
The seven-year-old was using the popular app musically when she received the messages. Photo: Facebook

“First I want to say how proud of our daughter I am and want this to be a warning to your families,” Brad wrote.

He then shared a stream of screenshots from texts his daughter had received on the app, asking her what her age was, before telling her to send “pics without t-shirt”.

While the girl sent a cute photo showing her smiling at the camera, the person on the other end kept asking her to take a picture of her “body without t-shirt”.

The little girl then told the person, who was posing as a nine-year-old, that she couldn’t because her mum told her not to.

Instead of leaving it there, the person then got forceful, texting: “Make some pics without t-shirt now” and “It’s secret between us only”.

The girl sent the predator a picture of her face but they wanted a picture of her with a t-shirt off. Photo: Facebook
The girl sent the predator a picture of her face but they wanted a picture of her with a t-shirt off. Photo: Facebook
She told the person that her mum wouldn't let her. Photo: Facebook
She told the person that her mum wouldn't let her. Photo: Facebook

The person keeps texting her before the girl’s father comes on and tells them: “I am her father and I am a police officer. We have documented you IP address and location. I recommend that you refrain from any other contact”.

Brad then explained on Facebook that his daughter doesn’t have her own phone and was using the app on one of her parent’s devices.

“I know many will blame us parents for this happening. But we never thought like predators and I guess we were naive in thinking that our daughter was safe on what we thought to be a kid friendly app,” he said.

“We have learned the hard way. I ask that you not judge us (many still will) but let our experience teach us all.”

Brad said his daughter mainly used the app to record music videos with her cousins and “make goofy duets of songs together”.

The person was persistent but then the girl's dad took over. Photo: Facebook
The person was persistent but then the girl's dad took over. Photo: Facebook

“We have accepted friends of theirs and our daughter believed this was another one,” he said.

“I never thought of someone pretending to be 9 to gain access to my child. We live and learn and I continue to do so everyday as a parent.”

Brad said the police have seized the person’s IP address and the investigation is ongoing.

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